Summer 2019 IABSM 10mm

An alternate 2019 Summer Campaign game suggestion


I ain't been shot Mum, 10mm Cassino, the attack on Cassino 

Up to three players can each command a company sized force advancing in sectors on table against up to three German Companies.  Players have an entire Battalion at their disposal but can only field a single company at a time, The close nature of the terrain makes this concentration of troops possible on table.  

Because of the Multi National Allied forces either US or Commonwealth Infantry or Armoured forces may be used by the player, just to mix it up a bit.  Similarly the Germans could be Fallschirmjäger or Panzer Grenadiers, Mountain or just plain Wehrmacht Infantry.  Note that I intend to deploy the Rajputs who were part of 4th Indian Division.

The basic premise is Operation Dickens, 2nd New Zealand Division vs 1st Fallschirmjäger Division but with US or other Commonwealth support.  

Player 1 
First Game Castle Hill 
Second game The Castle
Third game  German Counter Attack
Fourth Game  The Continental Hotel

Player 2
The Nunnery
The Jail
The Botanical gardens
The Hotel Des Roses North

Player 3
Tanks on the Outer Road
Post Office
Town hall
Hotel Des Roses South

Player 4
Fallschirmjäger Battalion Castle Hill 

Player 5 
Wehrmacht Battalion Town Centre

Player 6 
Panzer Grenadier Battalion - outer road and south side of the town

The Axis opposition was Richard Heidrich’s 1st Fallschirmjäger Division. Heidrich's three regimental commanders would be represented on table.  
Oberst Karl-Lothar Schulz, of 1st Fallschirmjäger Regiment occupying the town; 
Ludwig Heilmann of the 3rd Regiment around the monastery; and, 
Erich Walther, leading the 4th Regiment in the hills beyond.  

Finally his artillery brigade commander, is Oberstleutnant Bruno Schram, who may not have the firepower of the Allies, but due to their observational position on the mountain have far greater accuracy.  Schram and his gunners will be represented by a random fire mission table.


Notes
15 March 1944, Operation DICKENS, 6th New Zealand Brigade attacks the Italian town of Cassino as part of the Allies’ advance on Rome.  This will be a series of games for objectives in the town, Tanks on the perimeter road, Castle Hill, the Railway station, the Continental Hotel, all using company sized forces.  Objectives would be dealt randomly on cards on a game by game basis, and losses would accrue from game to game, until a Company must be retired from the action at 50% strength to rest and refit.

The Germans tenacious resistance from hidden positions in the maze of rubble that was once Cassino is some of the most difficult streetfighting in WW2.  After eight days of fighting from one shattered building to the next, General Freyberg decided the cost was proving too high and he ordered his troops to stop the attack. 




The attack on 15 March relied on a planned bombing campaign which reduced Cassino a pile of rubble.  Predictably the German defenders rallied quickly and put up staunch resistance among bomb craters that flooded as heavy rain set in, turning the rubble into a morass.  The terrain would be Mediterranean style buildings and scratch built walls and ruins (easy enough to do and the look would be spectacular.

The Avalon Hill game map.  A useful terrain guide. 
The Allies start at the bottom of the map. 

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